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APPLICATION ANSWERS · TN FIELD GUIDE

Do a spouse's and children's French-language documents raise the same issues?

Sources checked:

THE DIRECT ANSWER

They can. Marriage and birth certificates establish the relationships that TD status depends on, so names, dates and spellings need to match the principal's records. TD may be available to a spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one, with steps that vary by nationality.

Match the family record to the principal's file

Preserve accents, surname changes and the names actually recorded on each document. Explain a genuine discrepancy with supporting records instead of altering it in translation. Agree consistent terminology with each translator; one translator is not a legal requirement.

TD permits study but does not authorize employment. Ask about a proposed remote activity or unpaid placement specifically rather than assuming it falls outside work restrictions. Work through the family records in the same order every time: the document that establishes the relationship, the document that establishes each person's identity, then anything explaining a difference between them.

A civil-status certificate issued years after the event is ordinary and is not itself a discrepancy. Where a surname was recorded differently at marriage, the act recording that change is what settles it, so obtain that document rather than annotating a translation. Ask in plain terms what each dependent intends to do before the file is assembled, because the answer decides which questions have to be researched instead of assumed.